Sketching the Heart in Your Eyes
by Crazyeight
Summary: Takato needs help with an art project for school, and after he turns to the one person who can help him, a little heart to heart is exchanged. A candle light flickers into something more...


A/N: This was written initially between myself and fellow author **Ruki44** almost two years ago for fun, and for some reason was promptly forgotten until I turned it up while perusing my computer for inspiration. Reread it and after it brought a smile to my face I felt that it might be worth sharing once I got permission from Ruki44. Hope you all enjoy the piece. Until next time. :)

-Crazyeight

 **###**

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Sketching the Heart in Your Eyes

A Digimon Tamers story by: Crazyeight and Ruki44

Takato was nervous. No… Nervous didn't accurately describe it. He was on the verge of panicking.

 _This has got to be the stupidest idea I've ever come up with. There's no way she would go through with it. She'll never agree to it._

Yet his feet continued to keep him moving as he made his way through the neighborhood, the gate belonging to the home of one Rika Nonaka coming into view. Approaching it, he tried desperately to shut himself. There _had_ to be another way.

 _It's not like I'm asking her to do anything crazy though,_ one part of his brain told him. The other vehemently disagreed. Nonetheless, he drew to a halt in front of the open gate and looked inside, his self-consciousness rising into uncharted waters. He suddenly wished that he had brought Guilmon, but the digimon was happily helping out with the bakery. Bringing him along for something that could only end with his fool-Gogglehead getting punched would only ruin his day.

"I'm pretty sure this is going to ruin Rika's day too," he said aloud to himself. His feet struggled to take that final walk into Rika's yard and seek her out, but for once he managed to wrest control of them, his doubts thundering loudly.

 _Go home!_ they told him. _Go home before it's too late!_

The longer he stood there, the more that idea sounded like the best thing ever. Yet his feet refused to turn around.

 _Traitors…_

"Hello, Takato." Renamon greeted as she appeared behind him. The vulpine had noticed Takato enter the yard and wandering around aimlessly, no doubt looking for Rika.

While it wasn't unusual for Takato to come over unannounced, Renamon couldn't help but be curious on what he meant when he said he was pretty sure "this is going to ruin Rika's day too." She hadn't noticed any Digimon biomerge, so that couldn't be the problem.

However, if she learned one thing was that not all problems were digital in nature. Still, she couldn't help but be worried as she asked, "What seems to be troubling you?"

Takato half-shouted, half-gasped in surprise as he jumped at Renamon's unexpected – or rather expected – appearance behind him. Tightening his grip on his sketch supplies, he fixed the kitsune with a harsh glare.

"Jeez… Do you always have to do that?" he asked in exasperation before blanching at his tone. "S-Sorry. That wasn't right of me. I didn't mean to snap…"

Tilting her head, she noticed the art supplies for the first time. While not completely unusual - Takato always had a notepad and a pencil in his pocket - these seemed more ... professional, was that the word?

"It is quite alright," Renamon said smiling slightly before it disappeared in a worried frown as her tailed swished in the air. "Although you do seem on edge. Did something happen?"

Takato looked away uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his head. "Yes… Well… No, not exactly. Just…Just me being my usual me. I came up with a harebrained idea and now I'm thinking it's worse than harebrained. Um… Is Rika around?"

"Yes," Renamon said, wondering what exactly his idea was. However, following him would no doubt lead to the answer, so she didn't ask. "Would you like me to lead you to her?"

Takato gave a nervous laugh. "Um… If it's not too much trouble…" he said before continuing in a softer voice. "Oh who am I kidding? You'll probably end up having to clean my brains right off the floor. That _is_ trouble by definition…"

"I'm sure whatever it is, Rika isn't going to spill your brains onto the grass," Renamon said, slightly amused as she lead Takato further into the yard. Even after all this time, it seemed Takato still seemed nervous around her Tamer, expecting her to lash out on him. While in the past, that fear wouldn't have been unwarranted, Rika had grown up some and much of her anger had quelled.

Not gone completely, no. Renamon knew it would never leave, especially since Rika was an emotionally expressive child.

Speaking of which, the girl in question was watching the koi fish swim around in the pond as she sat outside. Upon hearing Takato and Renamon approach, Rika's head lifted up and the neutral expression which was on her face disappeared with a wide smile.

"Takato!" she said, standing up to greet the boy before noticing the conspicuous lack of a certain dinosaur. Tilting her head slightly, she looked at her friend. "Where's dinoboy?"

Takato gave a nervous wave, feeling even more guilty now upon seeing her smile – that pretty smile that had been so elusive in the past. If there was ever a sign of how much Rika had changed, it was in that smile. For the longest time he had never thought she was even capable of it; scowling and grumping over every little thing… _Stupid trees!_ he and Henry had joked she would say once when they wondered about her view of camping, something they were completely wrong about, but such was the impression they had of her at the time. Now though things were different, and sometimes…just _sometimes_ in a part of his heart that he fully denied…he wondered if she reserved her best smiles for him.

It was silly of course. She smiled on occasion even at Kazu's antics, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if her mood became a little bit brighter around him.

 _Jeri's getting to me,_ he thought, guilt picking away at him. This idea just sounded worse with every second that ticked by. That smile… He didn't want to see it disappear, and yet…here he was, risking just that.

"Oh… Guilmon's at the bakery still helping out. He looked like he was having a lot of fun, so I figured it would be a bad idea to disturb him. Besides, he's real good at advertisement."

This was true. Guilmon had strangely picked up quite the knack for selling Guilmon Bread, the loaf of bread shaped like his head. It was certainly the talk of the town and was easily their most profitable item. His parents were talking about hiring an extra person to ease up on the demand.

"Well that's good he's having fun. Hope he doesn't eat all the bread though," Rika said, tilting her head slightly at Takato's skittish behavior before brushing it off as probably nothing. Takato always seemed to be nervous about a variety of things, and unless he was out right panicking, Rika had learned to ignore it.

"Why don't you come and join me?" she suggested, gesturing to the space next to her. She wasn't quite sure why he was here, but she wasn't complaining.

"Shall I get you two some tea and cookies?" Renamon asked, becoming knowledgeable in the human customs since joining the Nonaka household. She found it very interesting, each women of the household more than happy to share their wisdom. Rika smiled at her and nodded.

"Thank you, Renamon."

Takato made his way over to Rika and set himself down, making sure to maintain a respectable distance. What he was thinking of asking her was, in his mind, no small task and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. Puberty had only made him increasingly awkward in speech and act, causing him to worry more about how the things he said or did around the girls he was friends with would appear to them.

Proximity was one such concern. How close was too close? Better to be safe than sorry.

"Um… So…" He shifted his grip on his sketch supplies and tried to smile. "F-Fancy seeing you here."

 _I want to die…_ he berated himself for the lame start. _Seriously kami… Just drop a meteor on me or open up a portal to a digimon's mouth… I don't care anymore…_

Rika raised an eyebrow at Takato's attempt at small talk.

 _Definitely more skittish than normal,_ she noticed as her eyes drifted down toward his drawing supplies. _Hm. Wonder what he is doing with those?_

"Yes. Fancy seeing me at my house," Rika replied sarcastically, although a slight smirk danced on her face. "What's up?"

"Um… Well… It's about the art class I've been taking," Takato confessed, trying to keep his voice from cracking – another gift of puberty. "My teacher keeps telling me that I need to branch out more with my work… Draw things that _aren't_ Guilmon, digimon, or rocks or trees. She keeps telling me that my work is becoming…um… _stagnant."_

"Uh, huh," Rika said, not quite sure what exactly he was getting at, but it made sense why he had his art supplies with him.

 _Maybe he wants to draw Renamon?_

"And?" she prompted.

Takato swallowed. Now came the tricky part.

 _Look her in the eye when you talk to her,_ he told himself. It was almost painful to do so, but he knew if he had any respect for her, he had to ask her when meeting her eyes. Truth and respect, he remembered his parents telling him once, was conveyed through eye contact; that you take the other person and their feelings seriously. Grasping his pencil box for strength, he ordered his flagging courage to hang on a little bit longer.

"I…I was wondering if…" He swallowed again. His mouth felt so badly dry right now. "…if…and I'm sorry if this makes you mad but feel free to hit me if it does…I was wondering if you could…um…model for me."

There. He finally said it. He felt like the guillotine was dropping down on him and words began to spill out faster than he could stop them.

"I didn't want to ask you, but I'm kind of at the end of my rope here. My teacher's really hammering me hard on this and I can't afford good books on drawing yet. Jeri already turned me down, Henry and Kenta are busy and there's no one else I can trust with this. I…"

Now Takato stopped, catching the emotion in Rika's eyes and at once shame crept into his face. "S-Sorry," he apologized. "I knew this was a bad idea at the start…"

 _What the...?_

Rika wasn't quite sure what to make that he didn't want to come to her with it at first, feeling a slight annoyance that she was one of the last people he asked, although saying she was one of the people he trusted took the sting out somewhat.

 _Well not that I can blame him,_ she thought with a frown. Just the word "model" sent shivers up her spine. Still, seeing him look so despondent made her shift slightly, feeling bad for him.

"...What sort of modeling do you need?" she asked finally. "Because the clothes are staying on." Another pause. "And I refuse to do anything _weird."_

Takato's head snapped up in surprise. _Did she just…say she'd do it?_ he thought, wondering if he had heard things. Yes, he definitely had, and his mind took a second to catch back up with the rest of her words.

"No!" Takato flushed. "Nothing…Definitely nothing weird. I…I wouldn't be here if…if that was the case. I'd sooner take the failing grade than ask you to…to…" Flustered, he shook his head. "A-Anyway, it's nothing major. You can just sit where you are or somewhere else…do what you usually do or whatever. I don't have to actually finish any sketches, so you can move if you get tired or bored. I just need to do a bunch of small ones. That's all."

"Hmm," Rika hummed, not quite understanding why he wouldn't need to finish the sketches, but chalked it up to "artist things." Shrugging her shoulders as Renamon returned with the tea and cookies - not after listening in silently on their conversation of course - she thanked her partner once again as she picked up a sugar cookie.

"OK," she said as she took a bite, crossing her legs.

"Thanks Rika," Takato bowed gratefully. "I really owe you one. Um…Is there anything you need before we start? A book or something so you don't get bored?" He didn't plan to take an extremely long time with this – for Rika's comfort he planned to be as quick as possible – but the process, even at his fastest, could still be time consuming and people could get bored doing nothing.

"I'm fine. If I need anything, I'll just ask Renamon to get it for me," she said as she laid down on the grass. Looking up at her partner who grinned knowingly at her. While the two could communicate telepathically, Rika didn't need it to know what she was thinking. Or planning.

 _Told me four years ago Renamon had a mischievous streak, and I would have laughed._

"Okay," Takato nodded, opening up his sketchbook and pencil box. Humming thoughtfully, his hand hovered over the scattering of pencils before choosing one. After quickly sharpening it, he glanced at Rika and then set his pencil to the page, beginning his work. He moved quickly, drawing quick, loose lines at first, forming the general 'skeleton' for the framework before adding around it, looking up every so often to check on a detail before going back to the sketch.

With each new line, he lost himself deeper and deeper in his concentration, the awkwardness and anxiety vanishing bit by bit.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked, not breaking away from the drawing. He wasn't sure how long they had been there like this. Certainly, long enough for the picture to be sufficiently detailed with shading and small wrinkles in her clothes. He brought the tip to her eyes and began to fill them in, darkening here, erasing there. Frowning, he set his pencil down and began to search for a piece of charcoal. Taking it to her eyes, he lightly… _lightly_ …dabbed at the irises before tilting his head at what he did.

 _Dark…_ he thought to himself. _Deep…_

"Gogglehead," Rika said, using the nickname she had given him so long ago which had turned more of a pet name for him, used when he was being ... goggleheady. Needlessly fussing. Getting too lost in his own mind. Whatever. "I'm fine. I'm not sure if you met me, but sitting still and staring off into space is kind of my thing."

Takato paused to look up at her, and he smiled softly.

"I know," he replied. "I just want to make sure. I worry sometimes. This isn't exactly normal for us to do you know, and I know how much you hate modeling."

"Well this is OK," Rika allowed before glancing at Takato and gave an impish smirk. "I think it might be the flashing lights. Gets to my head."

Takato chuckled. "I guess there's something to that," he agreed, knowing how the harsh lighting of the art room affected him alone. Camera flashes were undoubtedly even worse. "Um… Could you change position now? I'm just about finished with this one."

"Sure," Rika said as she easily pulled herself up and crossed her legs, turning to face him. She was always found it fascinating how lost he would get into his artwork. To her, he seemed to become more confident in himself, and all of his over-thinking seemed to melt away.

"Hey, how did you get into drawing anyway?"

"Hm?" Takato raised an eyebrow as he sharpened his pencil again and set it to the page. "Oh, I guess I never thought about it before. It was just something that I always did. Like breathing. Felt like a natural part of me, like an arm or a leg. I mean, I wasn't really that serious about it as a kid. I just drew whatever came to mind and I just had fun with it." A pause before furrowing his brow slightly. "How did you get into digimon? The card game I mean."

"Well ... because I was bored," she admitted. "And it sounded like something to pass the time. After all, a lot of other people were playing it, so it wasn't like I would be alone."

Thinking back on it now, the Digimon card game had been her own attempt at reaching out and attempting to connect with people when so many other ways she failed so miserably. Not that she succeeded much ... at least at first. It got her out of the house at least.

Takato smiled at her honest answer. That was one of the things he liked best about her. Rika always gave a person her real thoughts. She didn't dance around or lie, whether to protect someone's feelings or to be mean. She was just…honest. With her, he always knew where he would stand. It was…nice to know that, and he relayed that to her as he sketched in the details of her face.

"Do you ever wonder sometimes why we were chosen?" Rika asked after a bit. It was a question she had pitched to Renamon before, causing the vulpine to point out in confusion that she had become a Tamer since she was the strongest there was.

When she was a child, that answer was enough for her. However, now that she grew older, she wondered if that truly was the case. After all, if only the Digital World only chose the strongest willing to fight ... she doubted that Takato and Henry would have been chosen as well. Takato at the beginning didn't even know how to use Digi Modify cards and Henry was a pacifist. While both grew amazingly into their roles as Tamers - Takato in particular - she couldn't help but wonder, if not wish, it was something beyond _strength_ which cast their fate.

"Sometimes," Takato replied with a nod, taking out a kneaded eraser to lighten a spot he had touched up with the charcoal. "Mr. Mizzuno said all kinds of things that got me thinking back when Henry and I first met him in the digital world – when we were separated from you guys. He said that the Digignomes might have been trying to communicate, but there was probably a bunch of other stuff going on too…that the digivices were there to bring…" He tapped his chin with the tip of his pencil thoughtfully, trying to recall what the man had said before continuing. "…to bring together 'like-pairs'. He said they were like Noah's Ark or something. And that…maybe…we were created for our partners and vice versa.

"In some ways, I think the digivices brought us together too, like maybe we were created for each other but until we became Tamers we had no way to connect, and the same was true for our partners. Like maybe the digivices are like…I don't know, like a search light for someone we needed. Or we needed to help."

He shifted on the grass.

"So, I guess…maybe in a sense…our partners _needed_ us just like we needed them…and maybe how we might have needed each other, because we didn't have the other part of us. We're a lot like pieces to a puzzle I think. Sometimes, when I stop and think about how we came together and all the things we've done…that feels like the _only_ thing that makes sense. We fit each other… All the rough spots… The parts we're not so strong in. We support each other. Make each other better than we would have been alone, and when we came together we…make a picture."

Rika listened to Takato talk, a blush crossing her face as he described the D-arcs as a way to bring them all together.

Closing her eyes briefly, she could still recall that crushing loneliness that day she had come home after winning yet _another_ tournament and becoming a Tamer. It was the day the gears of fate started turning as she stared into Renamon's glowing blue eyes shortly after making a wish in the depths of her heart in the silence of her room.

A wish which was granted spectacularly.

"Yeah..." she agreed softly. "I like that answer."

Takato paused to look up at her, smiling at her, glad that he had helped make her happy in some way, even if it was small. "I don't always put my foot in my mouth," he chuckled, taking his pencil and sketching out Rika's eyes. There was a gentleness in them now that caused his smile to soften, contemplating them as he shaded in some light. They were a reminder of how much Rika had changed from the day he first met her. Gone was the demon who had looked at him coldly while ordering her partner to kill Guilmon. Now she had one of the biggest hearts of anyone he knew.

A big heart that had always been there, despite Rika's attempts to keep it hidden.

"Pretty…" he said quietly, his pencil pausing for a moment on the paper before resuming.

"Mn?" Rika hummed, glancing up, tilting her head curiously when she heard Takato murmur something.

"Huh?" Takato blinked. Broken out of his focus, he looked up at Rika in confusion. "Ah… Sorry, did you say something?"

"Didn't you?" Rika asked confused. "You murmured something."

Takato's face bloomed bright red all of a sudden. _Oh man… I said that out loud?_

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he took up his pencil sharpener and began to anxiously sharpen his pencil to distract himself. "Oh… N-Nothing. I was…" He coughed. "I was just talking to myself. You know how I am."

He promptly began humming nervously, wincing as the pencil tip snapped from too much sharpening. "Ah nuts…"

"Liar. You're an open book," Rika pointed out flatly, wondering what got him so hot and bothered.

 _Was he mumbling embarrassing things again?_ she wondered before sighing. He was getting himself all worked up again, and it was probably over nothing.

"You're going to be distracted unless you tell me," she pointed out before smirking. "And I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Takato looked up at her, a terrified smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "You _really_ like to make my life hard, don't you?" he asked, giving a dry chuckle.

Rika beamed at that, and if she had a tail, it would be wagging impishly. Of course, the devilish glint in her eyes with the affirmative, "Mn!" worked just as well.

"Of course," Takato laughed, resuming his work. An idea came to him as he began to add her bangs and he glanced back up at her, a playful grin on his face, his terror receding a little, replaced by…what was it? The kind of fear that a daredevil would experience?

"But why make it easy for you?" he asked playfully. "Let's make it a game and see if you can guess what I said."

"A game ... huh?" Rika asked as her smile broadened, clearly immediately interested. Although this wouldn't be much of a surprise to anybody who knew her - Rika loved games. "All right. What are the rules?"

 _Rules?_ He realized he hadn't thought that far ahead. "Um… Well, it's a question and answer game, so…anything goes?" he asked, not sure what kind of limits could be imposed in such a scenario. Of course, as soon as he thought that he realized that Rika would certainly find _some_ way of making his life even more difficult. For the life of him however he couldn't imagine just _what_ Rika would do.

In a way, that made it all the more exciting. Seeing what creative ways Rika could do to get him to confess would be…interesting to say the least.

"Yeah," he said, nodding finally, returning to his work. "Anything goes. Er…" He quickly realized one rule that should stand. "Except that you can't mess up my drawings. My grade is kind of riding on this."

"All right," Rika nodded as she hummed thoughtfully. She had a feeling whatever he said was about her and judging by his reaction, probably not something he wanted her to hear. Although, that didn't exactly narrow things down. Takato was weird about the most unusual stuff, feeling she would get insulted over things she wouldn't.

Like asking her to help him out with his class being a great instance.

 _All I need to do is intimidate him,_ she thought as she leveled her gaze on him, her violet eyes locking with his, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly and this time not from the sun.

"Did you compliment me?"

A faint blush touched his cheeks and he looked back at his drawing. To distract his nerves, he started a new sketch, this time with just Rika's eyes and the way they eyed him, like a cat playing with a toy mouse.

"Yeah," he admitted with a nod. Although he didn't say he had to be honest in his answers, it would have defeated the purpose of the game if he lied.

 _Not that I can put anything past her anyway,_ he thought.

Rika smiled at that.

 _He really is an open book,_ she thought fondly, wondering why he was so embarrassed to compliment her out loud. She liked it when he did so.

"Do it again then so I can hear it," she said bluntly before grinning at him. "I'm a girl after all. I like my ego being stroked as much as the next girl."

 _I guess this is where they cart my remains out of here in buckets…_ Takato thought before looking back up at her, taking in her grin. In spite of its playful appearance, she seemed…happy at the thought of his complimenting her? He frowned mentally, uncertain as to what this meant.

"I…ah…was…just thinking about…how…pretty your eyes were," he stammered out, the heat from the blood rushing to his face baking his skin. If Rika didn't kill him, his body likely would. He held his breath, waiting for her response.

 _Maybe if I'm lucky, she'll leave enough so Hypnos can clone me…_ he thought deliriously.

Rika blinked and raised a hand to her face, her fingertips brushing just below her eyes. She had been told she was pretty in the past plenty of times before, but nobody ever complimented her eyes - outside of mama and grandma of course.

If anything, people always seemed to find it hard to look into them.

Smiling as she lowered her hand, a blush crossed her face as well.

"Thanks," she said softly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I like them too." She glanced at him, still smiling. "You're the first person outside of my family though to say you find them pretty though."

Takato tilted his head to one side at her reaction, his surprise at her presently making him forget that she wasn't about to send him to the afterlife.

"Why's that?" he asked, honestly confused. Rika had a number of admirers, boy and girl. It was hard to imagine that no one had ever brought them up even once. "They're really nice. Even Jeri sometimes talks about how pretty they are."

"Really?" Rika blinked as her hand covered her eye again almost tentatively. She didn't know that.

Shaking her head, she let her hand drop.

"I don't know why ..." she admitted with a shrug. It was true in the most technical sense. She didn't know why for sure, but she had several educated guesses. "But if I had to form a hypothesis it was because they thought they were cold."

She smiled grimly at that.

"Not that I could blame them I suppose."

Takato's expression softened, feeling a bit saddened by that. "Maybe they're only seeing them one way," he suggested, adding a line to her eyes on the drawing pad. "But I think they're wrong. The first time I saw you…" He was about to say, _in my dream,_ but he quickly remembered she didn't like it when he brought that up. "…the first time I saw your eyes, I thought…it was kind of like…looking at the night sky. I know nighttime can be kinda scary, and it is kind of chilly, but…" He paused, looking for the right words. "…night time can be…kind of amazing too. It's full of mysteries. And there's the moon… The moon always looks amazing at night. And then there's the stars…"

His smile returned as thought back to that first, scary day. "Stars have worlds around them," he said softly. "I don't understand anyone who couldn't find that amazing."

"Jeez, you could be a poet the way you speak," Rika blushed, quite pleased with Takato's description but on reflex tried to hide so as she rubbed her red face with the back of her hand.

She was embarrassed, yes, but it wasn't a bad feeling. Part of her wanted Takato to go on in complimenting her. She liked it whenever he took notice of her, and when she was younger she would complain whenever he didn't immediately comment on when she changed her appearance - the heart t-shirt being the first notable instance to come to mind.

 _How the hell does he not have a girlfriend?_ she wondered. Although if she was honest, she would be jealous of anyone who was dating Takato who _wasn't_ Jeri, and that's only because she adored the other girl too.

Takato laughed at her compliment. "I only scored a 50 in poetry," he admitted in embarrassment. "I know I talk a lot, but I don't really have the gift for that. I fumble too much. My mom says it's one of those family talents that skips a generation. She's the real poet in the family, but she loved baking more. And my dad…well… She likes to wonder, and I quote, "how he ever made her fall in love with him with how terrible his love poems were.""

At that, Takato laughed. "His cooking's good though, so maybe that had something to do with it. That's a talent at least that doesn't skip generations."

"Mn," Rika agreed as her blush subsided. Takato was great at cooking, and whenever the group was hanging out or having a BBQ, she would bother the poor boy to cook. It wasn't like she couldn't ... she just liked his more and made that fact well known.

"As for your fumbling poems," she said after a minute, smiling at him. "They're sweeter than anything as far as I'm concerned. I like them."

Takato blushed again at that, his eyes meeting hers…meeting that starry night sky and the worlds held within. "Thanks Rika," he replied.

Rika smiled at him as their eyes interlocked.

"Anytime," she said simply as she closed her eyes, the smile stretching across her face more.

Takato smiled back, gazing at her now closed eyes before finally, and with great effort, he looked away, his face flushing badly. As much as he found her eyes nice to look at – even closed – the act itself was still quite difficult as he felt doing so – the staring – was a touch rude. The last thing he wanted was to make Rika feel uncomfortable. Looking over his drawings, he nodded to himself, satisfied.

"Okay," he said. "I think I've got enough now," he said, looking back up at her. "Thanks again for your help Rika."

"Sure," Rika replied as she stretched. It was one thing to stay still for long periods of time because you wanted to. It seemed it was another to stay still because you were asked to.

Well, whatever, she didn't mind. She'd do it again in a heartbeat if it helped out Takato.

"If you need any more help, let me know."

Takato raised an eyebrow in surprise at her as he began to box away his supplies. "Ah… Really?" he asked, flummoxed. He hadn't expected that.

"Of course," Rika said eyeing him slightly before smirking. "And next time you can tell me what else you find pretty about me," she teased.

The burning blush that had been plaguing his face since arriving here returned in full force, invading all the way to the tips of his ears. His mouth worked, trying to find a response, but unable to do so. Instead, he just nodded numbly, wondering just what alternate dimension he had woken up in where Rika not only lets him draw her, but invites compliments about her appearance.

 _Clearly a digimon bent on using me for world domination,_ he thought sarcastically, folding up his drawing pad next and getting to his feet. He winced upon hearing a low _popping_ noise in his knees.

"Jeez…" he laughed, stretching. "Better not let Kazu hear you say that. We'll never hear the end of it then."

"Well if he gets too annoying, I'll just shut him up," Rika said matter-of-factly, nodding her head as if that solved the issue.

Which, knowing Rika and her ... methods, it probably would.

Takato laughed again at Rika's preference for a violent solution with regards to Kazu…and the majority of her problems. She had a good heart as always though. Even Kazu was, more or less, safe from her rampages as he knew what lines not to cross.

 _Imagine that. Kazu actually grew something resembling common sense…_

Looking down at his sketchbook, he found that he was a bit bothered asking Rika to help him with such an important task while knowing her feelings regarding modeling. She seemed okay with it this time…and other times involving him for some reason, but still… He wanted to repay her.

"Hey, Rika?" he asked tentatively, looking back up at her. "If there's anything I can do to pay you back for your help, just let me know, okay? Whatever it is, if I can do it. Or, you know…" He scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "…even if I can't, I'll do my best."

"Get an A, and we'll call it even," she grinned at him. She didn't really mind modeling for Takato. It was actually really fun, especially since it was just the two of them. Plus, they were able to talk without annoying interferences, mostly Kazu really, so that was always a plus.

However, a second thought came to mind.

"Also, some cookies or something next time would be nice," she said thoughtfully before grinning at him. "Your mom isn't the only one who's able to be bribed with food."

Takato tilted his head to one side, confused. "Are you saying…?" he began, only to think better of it and stop his mouth with a quick bite of his tongue. "Oh… Um… Never mind."

 _Let's not have another foot in mouth moment here,_ he berated himself, turning to gather up his things so as to hide the faint blush that returned, seemingly refusing to die.

Rika smiled as she watched him gather his supplies quietly, quite pleased with how the visit had turned out. And when he started to leave, just when he was about to leave the yard, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled,

"Next time it's a date!"

Blushing brightly, but grinning stupidly at the bold (although that might be up to interpretation considering her timing) assertion as she walked back into her house.

Takato turned to watch her go, a bewildered look on his face. All of a sudden, a thought he had scant minutes ago when she mentioned bribery with food, referencing his joke regarding his parent's marriage, returned to the forefront of his mind once more.

"Um… Wow," he said numbly, not at all certain as to what just happened or if Rika even meant that. "So…that just happened."

Scratching the back of his head distractedly, he kicked at the dirt, wondering what the proper response should be before finally shrugging mentally.

Joke or not, what harm was there?

"Okay!" he called back before resuming his course toward home. Exiting the gate, he found himself wondering if Rika's mother had been home when she shouted that.

 _Probably not,_ he thought with quiet laughter. _She'd never hear the end of it then, and Ms. Nonaka doesn't have the drawback of being Kazu…_

10


End file.
